Marco Mattiacci Italy

Despite having no experience in motorsport to his name, Marco Mattiacci was named Ferrari team principal on April 14, 2014 after the resignation of Stefano Domenicali. But while he was virtually unknown in F1 circles, he had worked for Ferrari since 2000, when he joined its road car sales division from Jaguar.

Rising rapidly through the ranks in just over a decade, Mattiacci headed up the company's Asia Pacific Operation for four years, and also worked for Ferrari in South America, the Middle East, Finland and Russia. Mattiacci won the car industry's prize for Executive of the Year in 2012 and was held in high esteem by Ferrari president Luca di Montezemolo before moving across to the Gestione Sportiva. At the time he made the step to F1 Mattiacci was working as CEO of Ferrari North America.

Mattiacci made his debut as team principal amidst a great deal of intrigue at the 2014 Chinese Grand Prix and memorably wore sunglasses in the paddock while overseeing his first day of Friday practice. He later explained that "flying for 40 hours over the last four days" had led to his decision to cover the bags under his eyes.

Fernando Alonso took the team's first podium of the season at the same race, but the success didn't last. Just days after the final race of the season, Mattiacci was replaced at the top by Maurizio Arrivabene as the axe swung in all departments at Maranello.